


Thesis, antithesis and the cruel reality

by Rumoris



Series: Tales Around the World Tree [3]
Category: South Park
Genre: Established Relationship, Etrian Odyssey AU, K2 week, M/M, k2 week 2019, something more melancholic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-05 20:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20279002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rumoris/pseuds/Rumoris
Summary: A story about how everyone wanted to find their own happiness, but eventually what you need and what you have to do might be the complete opposite of each other.





	Thesis, antithesis and the cruel reality

**Kyle wanted to get married. **

This was not an overnight thought, like many of his foolish plans, but rather an overarching frustration that boiled deep within him whenever he passed the residential church and saw dressed up masses, congratulating the newlyweds as they stepped through the heavy wooden doors. He pushed the feeling away, hiding it in a place, away from his thoughts. Alas it came back with twice the force when he noticed the subtle changes on the rooster at the explorer’s guild. Surnames disappeared to give way to new ones, or to duplicate themselves, maybe add a new surname to an existing one.

And there he was, three years in a relationship with no change, no real progress even after they moved together. It felt like they’d arrived to a standstill; a comfortable idleness while life went on and they settled into their everyday life.

He tried convincing himself that a marriage is nothing but another pile of papers and they had way too many licenses, certificates, contracts what will eventually bury them. However, his heart knew better. A marriage was more than just a paper with their signatures. A marriage was a paper with _their _signatures, their witnesses’ signatures, proving that they not only belonged together in heart and soul, but also in name. It was the ultimate form of a relationship, the perfect proof.

And yet, he knew it well that the bells did not ring for him and there won’t be any cakes, late night dances and festivities waiting for him in the near future. Sighing to himself he took his way towards the arched buildings of the castle that stood right next to the enormous tree trunk.

**Kenny wanted to get married.**

It’s not like he was completely against the idea of connecting their lives together. But he also knew that a marriage brought in unknown responsibilities and hurdled impossible obstacles in front of them. It was a complicated dance where none of them could truly learn the correct moves and every misstep would have some kind of consequence. Yet his heart was hit by a pang of jealousy whenever he heard the merry rings of wedding bells in the distance announcing the bond between newlyweds. He couldn’t mask well the gloomy expression that flashed through his face whenever Tweek’s restaurant was closed from the public and the name of the pair was written with ornamented letters and tacky drawings of flowers and vines. 

Kenny kept telling himself, that a wedding would cost too much, they would have to plan ahead, make arrangements for their honeymoon but truth is, he had it all planned out. From proposal to the last dance at dawn. Kenny knew what kind of rings he would buy, where he would catch Kyle off guard to propose with a ring, who would be the first person to be informed, who would take care of their clothes, however once he reached the invitees he grew disheartened, and lost the will to continue.

He remembered his own parents who ended up as the complete of opposite of everything a marriage was supposed to symbolize and lived in complete disharmony. Love gradually faded from his family, leaving only two tired adults who couldn’t even look at each other.

His breath hitched as he remembered the tension that lingered on the air of their small flatlet. The nights when he felt that sleeping in the forest would be more peaceful, than trying to stay safe at home.

A bitter lump slipped down his throat as he thought back on the sleepless nights, the shouting, the smell of rotten wood and spilled alcohol.

Their marriage wouldn’t be like that. Kenny knew it. Kenny knew it so well! If any of them were to fall, the other would pull him back. But the thought was there the fear kept tailing him night and day and made it hard to breathe. 

After a painful sound escaped his lips, he left the window of the jewelry alone and went on his way.

**Stan wanted to get married.**

After all, he grew up in a household where married with kids was the ultimate goal a man can achieve and it was the perfect proof that he was capable of living on his own, without hiding behind the skirt of his mother. However, the paper that he held in his hand was the complete opposite of this proof. A thick paper with golden frames and the words Divorce Agreement on the top of it, containing two signatures as a sign of a mutual agreement. 

His entire body shook as he reread it over and over again, hoping that either their signatures or the letters would disappear completely. That this whole ordeal was nothing more than one of his really vivid dreams about negative outcomes.

Almost exactly a year ago, he imagined a whole different ending. Something where his family is finally out of financial troubles, his father will acknowledge that he worth something, that he is not some kind of wimp who took the easy way out of troubles by running away from home. He was on the right track. He had it all together. But it did not last long and one day, it ended as unnoticeably as seasons change each other. 

Letting his tears run down his face, Stan recognized his friends sitting at each of his side, hesitantly patting his back. They clearly had no idea what to do in this situation. How would they?!

Kyle tries to bring in logic, cheer him up by stating that now he has experience, that next time will be different and he will have more experience at organizing the wedding, how it’s better to get over this now, than years later when they’d already settled into their life. Kenny is more about emotions and physical contact, pulling him into a hug muttering empty soothing promises about the future, adding some sunshine to Kyle’s statements.

While Stan registered the words, but couldn’t hear them.

No words could take away the pain he felt that day.

They tried so hard to prevent him from getting sucked into a morass of despair, but all Stan saw was a failure and a lost future, as if his marriage had never existed in the first place.

**Kenny and Kyle eventually wanted to get married, but for the time being they had a more important task at hand. **

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I wanted to write an actual wedding and a wedding night for this prompt, but then I quickly realized those would spoil the ending of the still-unpublished fantasy AU, until I realized that weddings have two sides...


End file.
